Reflections[blog]snoitcelfeR

Consider donating to Tuscaloosa ...

2011-05-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

In the aftermath of recent happenings (it's always a mixed bag isn't it?) I am a bit disappointed that Tornado damages at Tuscaloosa are being taken in casual manner. After all, where press is more interested in the Royal Weddings and competitive advantages in political landscapes (international too), this is bound to happen.

Agreed, this is not as mammoth as Japan's tragedy, but hey, tragedy is tragedy. There is no relative scale. Ask who are affected. Ranking mishaps is for those who are not affected by them.

What I am amazed at is there is no easy way to donate what is needed. Maybe I should build one, someday. No, it's important. Donating, let me repeat, what is needed. And who'll determine what is needed? Those who are there, those whose homes and dreams were destroyed by the devastating and indifferent disaster. They are in the best position to decide what kind of help they need at any point in time. Sometimes, they need clothes, other times money (yes, money is not always the best way to get help) or non-perishable food items.

I imagine a website, a web service that lets those who are at the affected areas manage what is needed and let those who are eager to help pick and choose what they can send. In theory this is so simple that I almost want to start coding (writing) this web service. Having a tie-up with places like Amazon would be awesome!

Amazon, the word's most feared marketplace (yes, that's my interpretation of them) does not have anything where I can choose the required stuff and ship where it is needed.

Facebook, the word's busiest social networking website has nothing (that I could easily find) that does what's needed at this hour.

So, we are back to where we were. The human networking where humans appeal for help and they get response. The success is at best measured by number of hearts moved. But the contribution of technology to the management of such mishaps still leaves many things desired!

Well, I am going to do my part and donate the goods required by having them shipped to Tuscaloosa from Amazon.

You can do that too!

The Bear, the movie ...

2011-03-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, something that we see makes us dumbstruck, spellbound. The reason that makes us feel so can be anything, anything beautiful, sad, indifferent. The spellbinding effect can hardly be explained in words.

Nature is one such equalizer, normalizer, cold and devastating, dry and soothing, grand and mean, all at the same time. If human emotion/reason is what you savor at, how about the Nature reason? It's wild because it is free.

If you have not already seen this delicate balance and imbalance of Nature's grand, dramatic deeds, watch The Bear. Look no further. Read no further. Just watch it. Forget about IMDB's lowly 7.6 rating. Rating systems are flawed. They don't tell you what you should be watching. When my friend Byron gave me the DVD, I was far from elated about it. When I finished watching it with my 6-year-old, I couldn't move. James Oliver Curwood's tagline

The greatest thrill is not to kill, but to let live.

could hardly be put on the silver screen in a way better than how Jean-Jacques Annaud has done. Hats off to Jean-Jacques and his entire team. Read his story. He is one of those who make you feel proud of being a human being.

A Modern Indian Miracle?

2010-12-23T07:55:00.000-08:00

So, here is a little quiz for all of you:

What Indian Entity (village, city, district) has the highest GDP in the country?

Nope, it is not a city.

These honors are claimed by a small village in the state of Maharashtra. Its name is Hivre Bazar. It has won a number of awards for bringing about the little changes needed to transform itself into some kind of ideal village. Back in the day, such honors were claimed by another place named Ralegan Shiddi.

The village has a very good website [http://hiware-bazar.epanchayat.in] (hosted in India) which has a wealth of information, if you are interested.

This goes to show that non-participation of governments and spontaneous participation of us, the people, can create miracles in public lives, both rural or urban. Any researcher and worker who has worked in these areas that concern masses should visit this place. I hope to make a trip to Hivre Bazar soon ...

A school system of my dreams ...

2010-11-17T11:28:00.000-08:00

While wandering (not aimlessly) in the wonderland of WWW, I ran into Joseph Weizenbaum's (The ELIZA creator) thoughts (from 1985) about problems with educational establishment. Read them here first. My modest observation has been that they are applicable today just as well.

Paraphrasing him (bold casing mine):

Q: What are the problems of the educational establishment?

A: The first priority has to be, it seems to me, to lend to those to be educated a mastery of their own language so that they can express themselves clearly and with precision, in speech and in writing.That's the very first priority. The second priority is to give students an entree to and an identity within the culture of their society, which implies a study of history, literature, and all that.

And the third, very close to the second, is to prepare people for living in a society in which science is important, which means to teach them mathematics, or at least arithmetic, and the fundamental skills important to observing the world.

A school system which meets these main objectives might think about introducing something new. Meanwhile, researchers should certainly work on innovative education -- including computer-aided education. But we ought not to use entire generations of schoolchildren as experimental subjects.

In part, this response is based on my belief that what primary and secondary schools teach about computers now is either wrong or can be learned by a reasonably educated person in a few weeks.

Now, I do believe that somewhere, there is truth that unifies all these subjects. But this is pretty close to what I'd like to build, some day.

On problem solving ...

2010-11-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

Professor Bob Palais has written an interesting article on problem solving. His arguments are not only motivating, but also enlightening. They make you believe that it is belief that you will be able to solve the problem that plays a major role in actually solving it.

You may wonder if you have the capability to solve it. But here is a simple trick that should help. It has helped me. Let us say you tried (for some time) to solve the problem and got nowhere. Then you read the solution or someone tells it to you. Now, ask yourself if you are able to understand the solution and how it solves the problem. If you really understood the solution, my argument is that you are (and were always) in a position to solve it all by yourself. It is not a silver bullet, but something that has worked for me. Of course, the concentration (that problem solving itself requires) is a must.

My argument can be supported (not proved) thus. If one is not able to understand the solution to a problem, we know that it can be concluded that he or she would not have been able to solve the problem. For example, I don't understand the Theory of Relativity yet and that is evident only because I don't understand the solutions to most of the problems in it.

I understand that converse is not true, but I am not proving anything anyway.

Serendipity may find you ...

2010-10-30T03:31:00.000-07:00

Quite brilliantly, Paul Buchheit wrote Serendipity finds you. I think it may. The definition of the word (the claimed origin of which is itself fascinating) makes the word a matter of chance. One cannot count on making rich discoveries by chance. Being able to plan to make to such a discovery appears more scientific.

Making such discoveries depends on one's nature. A very good friend of mine for instance, hates surprises, by nature. The progress she makes in life is an outcome of careful planning. She enjoys life better that way. I have tried to show her several times that it is OK to do an unplanned activity. Once, she was wondering about how she can get back in shape in her busy life (which involved raising two kids). She spent quite some time thinking about it. And then one day, all of a sudden, I almost dragged her into a bike shop and we bought a bicycle for her. I said she could bike to work, do her farmers' market trips on the bike etc. And she did. It has been three years since that and she has only thanked me about this spontaneous act. It has helped her significantly (although biking on the streets of the Bay Area is not safe for someone like her, or anyone for that matter).

We have talked at length about this and other similar incidences and I think I now understand her plight. Leaving something to chance knowingly is something she just cannot do. Of course, like we make little adjustments to our nature, she could make some provision for accidental discoveries. But I now appreciate that it is hard for someone like her. Just like it is hard for someone like me to "plan the work and then work the plan".

She says, to an extent, making rich discoveries by being serendipitous is like a successful startup. For every successful startup, there are a bunch of failed ones. Thus, there should be many gaffes, stressful situations because you hoped to make a rich discovery by accident. And when you do make a rich discovery you tend to forget the pain you endured.

I am not sure if I can successfully refute her.

Another subtle observation I have about being serendipitous is that it suggests somewhat philosophical concept of destiny. A wise man (a physicist by profession) once told me that it is amazing how things that happen to us give an illusion that we make them happen. If you think about it, this is not something that you can quickly brush aside. When there are multiple choices available, what decides the choice we make?

Writing Nonfiction is a craft ...

2010-08-24T11:40:00.000-07:00

While reading William Zinsser's "On Writing Well", I decided to look for daily reading (which is of course nonfiction) where the writer misses the point.

Along came our son's school payment and tuition policy. It was intimidating to say the least. I imagined someone reminding me (the parent) of various things in the tone of "Thou shalt not ...".

Here are some bullet points from the tuition policy that are worth highlighting:

The font looked dry and frankly, it was hard to read. I thought Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst should be a must read. Once again, I realized that keeping something simple is hard.
Writing something in all caps IS CONSIDERED OFFENSIVE, isn't it? Well, this howler was full of such sentences. They were supposed to be the reminders to parents. I was intimidated rather than being reminded of.
Use of strong verbs and constructs like "require", "non-proratable" (is that even a word?), "absolutely no", "overdue notice", "termination", "must be" usually in all caps made the situation worse.
The prose was not only difficult to read, it made no sense at times with such sentences as:
- It is a mandatory that each child must have an Earthquake Kit. (It is mandatory that each child has an Earthquake Kit.)
- If we do not receive the total balance due by the due date, it will be considered as late (exactly what will be considered as late?)

Maybe I am being a grumpy parent for this is a payment policy. But wait a minute, I do like the school, it's just that this letter was not pleasant to read.

Where has all the warmth, affection been lost? Why must the school policies be written in such legalese?
It is all Zinsser's fault :-).

LinkedIn with yourself, or not?

2010-06-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

A Bug report in pictures:

Good luck, Vishy ...

2010-04-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

Vishy Anand, the reigning World Chess Champion (combined) will defend his Fide title against Bulgarian Veselin Topalov in what promises to be a bitter fight. The dual is about to start in two weeks and I am sure the chess (and non-chess) world will take keen interest in not just the outcome, but the content of the championship games.

I of course want and expect Vishy to keep his title. It is going to be tough in Sofia, but it's Vishy, you know. I am not sure if it is going to be tougher than October 2008 when Vishy won the title in Germany. I am going to keep my fingers crossed because I am sure he's going to need luck :-).

You can catch up with all the excitement at: anand-topalov.com.

About Quotes ...

2010-01-15T12:06:00.000-08:00

Quotes have always amazed me. I think it is a succinct expression of creativity. Not all quotes are applicable to all circumstances and not all are timeless, but some of them are pure stroke of genius. I shiver when I read a great quote. For example, here is one:

Life is tragedy for those who feel and it's a comedy for those who think.

Now, we know that a human being is neither a feeler nor a thinker all the time, but a continuum over these two defining traits. Yet, this quote makes me admire the person to whom it's attributed. With quotes, comes the problem of attribution, but that can be solved. Another thing about quotes is that there are plenty of quality ones (and crappy ones). It's almost like "there's a quote for that".

Having taken inspiration from several thinkers of all times, I thought of my own quotes. Let me know if you liked them:

Biking (on the roads of California) has improved my driving.
You feel like you have achieved something when you become a parent. The key is in not letting that sense of achievement and excitement fizzle, over time.
People have wondered about my ability to (memorize, and) quote quotable quotes when applicable. I have wondered about ability of people who created them.

mango-a-co-co

2009-11-06T16:21:00.001-08:00

Last Friday, we had an International Potluck at our son's, Apoorv's school -- Monticello Academy. It was a pleasure to attend it (I did it in spirit, no pun intended).

We made a delicious (of course) Indian delicacy. Here are the details of the recipe:

Type: Vegetarian.
Kind: Sweet.
Calories: Don't count them. The item is exempt from Calorie calculations.
Preparation: It is definitely quick and easy
- Ingredients: Shredded coconut (1 bowl), Sugar (1 bowl + 1 Tsp), Mango pulp(1 bowl), cardamom, milk powder (1/3rd bowl), lots of love.
- Microwave (Yes, it's a verb) the shredded coconut till it's tender. Then in a clean skillet start heating it on gentle heat. Exercise care that it does not get overheated too quickly. Add the mango pulp while continuing to stir. Stirring is the key operation. After about 15-20 minutes of gentle heating and constant stirring, add the bowl of sugar. Since the mango pulp has some unforgettable sourness, it's okay to add a bit of more sugar.
- Stir more. Heat more, but gently. The mixture starts to liquefy and then it solidifies. The temperature is around 95-100 degrees Celsius when you should be ready to stop the heat. Just about that time, add the milk powder to the mixture. It will be nice if you could use a funnel to add it to the mixture.
- At this time, you should be able to make a big ball of mixture. Don't eat it at this time ;) (It's very mouth watering). Let it cool. The creation of this "ball of mango-coconut mixture" is key. The idea is that the mixture is able to "stand".
- Make not more than 1 inch diameter balls by just rubbing the mixture between your palms. They look very tasty too ;).

We face challenges or challenges face us?

2009-09-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

San Jose Mercury News asks on the front page (08 September 2009):

What challenges face 49ers this year?

I believe linguists can help us prove that this statement makes sense, but I think it would convey the meaning better, when put either this way:

What challenges 49ers face this year?

, or simply this way:

Challenges 49ers face this year (without the question mark)

I told you -- English is funny!

Congrats to Sarita Devi ...

2009-08-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

On her win at the boxing event: World Police and Fire Games!

The pleasing paradox ...

2009-07-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

I thought this article presented a balanced point of view. Very interesting read indeed!

Paraphrasing some of content:

The challenge is to be of service without becoming servile. We shouldn’t elevate any customer to the role of superior being, but treat each with human respect.

Human respect does not involve treating others as if they were superior or defining yourself through their expectations just because they're paying the bill. Human respect means being responsible, not overly responsible—a curious form of irresponsibility. Don’t cut others' meat for them.

Human respect demands that I respect myself so that I can respect others. Whenever I take that humbling step down and backwards, I can lose my own self-respect, and thereby forfeit my ability to really respect—or be of real service—to anyone else. When I can engage with my customer as a peer, we both seem more satisfied with the result.

I think it is important that you satisfy yourself by doing what you do.

Code comments!

2009-07-26T22:59:00.000-07:00

A friend forwarded these code comments recently. Some of them are hilarious!

The best code comment seen in source code ......

1. ///

/// Class used to work around Richard being a $#!%^&* idiot
///

///
/// The point of this is to work around his poor design so that paging will
/// work on a mobile control. The main problem is the BindCompany( ) method,
/// which he hoped would be able to do everything. I hope he dies.
///

2.

// I dedicate all this code, all my work, to my wife, Darlene, who will
// have to support me and our three children and the dog once it gets
// released into the public.

3.

// Magic. Do not touch.

4.

return 1; /* returns 1 */

5.

/* This is O(scary), but seems quick enough in practice. */

6.

/*
* You may think you know what the following code does.
* But you don’t….Trust me.
* Fiddle with it, and you’ll spend many a sleepless
* night cursing the moment you thought you’d be clever
* enough to "optimize" the code below.
* Now close this file and go play with something else.
*/

7.

//When I wrote this, only God and I understood what I was doing
//Now…God only knows

देवनागरी आणि इतर "इंडिक" लीप्यंकन ...

2009-07-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

OK, many of my dreams are coming true. One of the dreams was to be able to type in देवनागरी just on the browser.

Several schemes have been attempted for this to happen. But nothing is as simple as using Google Transliteration API and Firefox and its extension for Indic Translation, written by Sridhar. There is room for improvement (of course) but this is a very good step forward.

For the impatient, here is the recipe:

Dump Internet Explorer. Use Firefox as your web browser. Get it from http://getfirefox.com.
Start the Firefox browser.
Click on this link (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8731).
Click the (green) button: "Add to Firefox".
A Window will pop-up. After a few seconds, "Install Now" button will activate. Click it.
Firefox would prompt you for "Restarting Firefox". Click that button.
Firefox will restart.
Let's say you log on to your mail client (e.g. Yahoo! Mail, GMail etc.) If you are using Yahoo!, please choose the Plain Text formatting.
After clicking inside the Compose Window, you'll see a block like the one in adjacent image.
Choose a language of your choice and check the check-box. This should get you going. At the end of a "Word" boundary, the transliteration would occur. For example typing "bharat" should show you "भारत".

Thanks to Sridhar and Google Transliteration API!

English: Tip #2

2009-07-26T06:36:00.000-07:00

Consider using "the reason (something) (reason)" without an intervening because. This is often violated and the resulting sentence is rather funny to read.

In such sentence, "the reason (something) " should be simplified for it to make sense.

I was rather surprised that Seth ran into this trap!

Beta or Not Beta -- That's the Question ...

2009-07-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

GMail -- Are you Beta or Not? Since anyone can create an account now (which implies it is "out of Beta", I guess) do I need to send any invites to anyone?

Life: a Journey To Be Grateful About ...

2009-06-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

I am so grateful having watched one of the greatest Tennis matches ever. After Roger Federer won his first French Open title, I just could not help myself and tears rolled down my eyes, just like his. Of course, I am one of his countably infinite fans, but this feeling is a genuine one. I celebrated his victory just like he would, with those tears of joy. It's rare (yes, rare) that a true champion is loved, respected, bitterly fought against by others. He is one such gem and I am just fortunate to be watching him play, lose and ultimately prevail. I am so glad that he left no doubt and gave no chance to biased sports critics who would not hesitate to brand him a bad player had he not won his fourteenth Grand Slam title.

Similar feelings have gripped me when several remarkable things have happened in life, sports or otherwise. Vishy Anand's becoming the World Chess Champion, Pete Sampras's fourteenth Grand Slam Title, several of Sachin Tendulkar's triumphant innings ... All victories and defeats are so enjoyable.

It's exactly like what Poet Bokar said:

भाग्य केवढे, आपुली चाले यातूनच यात्रा!

(We are so fortunate to do carry out the journey of life amidst such marvels).

Carol, please fix Classic Yahoo! Mail ...

2009-06-02T07:03:00.000-07:00

It's annoying when the URL's you send in your e-mail are mangled by your web-mail client. Yahoo! Mail client does exactly that and annoys you so much that it's even worse than annoyance caused by a dumb motorist in front of you (while driving). To those Yahoo! Mail developers who don't yet see it --

Use your software to send e-mails to a Yahoo! group or others.
Just put a link to web-page to it.

Upon receiving the e-mail, the URL not only does not remain clickable, but also is rendered virtually useless because some space characters are inserted in it. Come on! How hard is it to recognize something to be a link in an e-mail content? Yahoo! Mail support is surprising useless in dealing with this issue. Worse than Comcast support!

This is one of those bugs in Yahoo! Mail's HTML composer that keeps me from using it. This is one of the reasons (little annoyances here and there) GMail is likely to surpass Yahoo! Mail in terms of use, pretty soon. The Classic Yahoo! Mail was changed to use a wad of JavaScript based new client and that is even worse because it is way too bulky.

Carol -- don't waste the head-start you once had in web-mail use. Or have you already given up on it?

What is permanent and what changes ...

2009-05-31T08:25:00.000-07:00

This is one of the questions that always intrigue me. I believe in the sentiments expressed in this great quote:

There is only one thing that is permanent and that's change.

But this quote is a source of confusion as well. While changing something, you need to rely on something else that you consider permanent and build on top it. For someone else, this set might be different. Thus, what changes and what's permanent is a matter of perspective of someone who creates something.

Thus, creators create things from nothing and unleash them. The world then upholds them or not. That means the world subscribes (or not) to the change that the creator has brought about. To embrace the change, we apply some techniques like:

The change should solve the problems with current system while doing all the functions it already does.
It is more beautiful, which is a matter of taste. But sometimes, beauty is abstract.

Or, you simply think that a change is a breath of fresh air and commit to changing the way you do things even if you run the risk of changing something that isn't broken!

It's this obsession with change that fuels creativity that drives the world.

Be Terse ...

2009-05-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

If you read Seth Godin's blog, first thing you notice is his ability to be remarkably terse. I wish I had that skill.

English Usage: Tip 01

2009-04-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

English is not my first language. But having lived the language for better part of life, I observe pattern in its usage by its users, especially in writing. So much has been written about "English Writing" that a newcomer like me would be discouraged to write anything any more. But that's not what I am trying to achieve with these posts. It's just a set of observations I have made. It's just an attempt to provide simpler alternatives to convoluted usage without loss of intended meaning. I am doing it in the same vein as the great Patricia O'Conner does it in her seminal book, Woe is I (of course, with much more capacity and capability).

Of course, this is a daunting task and I make no claims of its success or validity. Linguists and English language professors and other references should be consulted for the same, but hey -- it's my blog and I am not fooling around. It's an expression of "nobody" observing something. I will try not to make my own mistakes while I post, and I provide a blanket apology for the same right here ;).

So, without any further ado, here I go.

Tip 01

I see use of these kinds of requests ...,

e.g.

We're trained to respond to these kinds of requests with a sharp intake of breath.

I often stumble upon such use. Questions like "is singular (this kind) more appropriate than the plural?" trickle to my mind.

Doesn't just the same get captured with:

We're trained to respond to such requests with a sharp intake of breath.

What's wrong with dictionary.reference.com

2009-04-18T06:54:00.000-07:00

While reading the enjoyable Agile Web Development book, I came across the word perversion. Of course, I started looking for its meaning on dictionary.com, by using the search engine addon on Firefox.

The first thing I realize is the clutter they have added to the site. Wow. If the caret browsing is on, you just can't use the site. I almost decide that I should now devise a new model for displaying paid advertisements and actual content better. Anyway, I will bite the bullet and turn the caret browsing off. I press on to understand meaning of this word: Perversion

Here is what I find:

per.ver.sion:
-noun

the act of perverting.
the state of being perverted.
....

OK, so I need to look into what pervert means. Sadly, there is no double clicking on the word to look a word up. So, I either choose it from the related word list or look "pervert" up explicitly. And this is what I get:

pervert
-verb

to affect with perversion.
to lead astray morally.
...

What?

Put literally, the first bullet point on pervert means -- to affect with "the act of perverting". Does that even make any sense?

Again, there is no criticism of this web-site (which I use heavily) meant here and I have no relationship with their business. I have no business affecting their traffic. It's a subtle usability observation about the web-site and probably structure of English Dictionaries in general. Why can't the first given meaning be the one a dictionary user would look for? I mean if Google weren't to put the most relevant search result at the top, how good would they be?

Start leaving your mobile phone somewhere!

2009-02-05T11:31:00.000-08:00

Google (as a company) keep on coming up with something. They have to try out different things, believe in them and see if we believe in them too. Of course, we believe in their search prowess. But do we believe in everything they have done? Of course not. And again, they are trying out several things on the basis of lot of intellect and money that they (sort of) own. Sometimes, their judgment is bound to go wrong.

Take the case of Google Latitude for instance. Unless you are like me (a forgetful soul), you might repent sharing your physical location with your near and dear ones. Seriously. And it is even more unfortunate to see official Google Blog saying something like

So now you can do things like see if your spouse is stuck in traffic on the way home from work ...

Pardon my language, but WTF? On a crowded highway, what are you going to achieve by seeing(if you are a strong believer in seeing is believing, that is) that your spouse is caught in a traffic jam? We (still) don't have the technology to muster a Star Trek fame Teleportation. So, what is it that you are going to achieve? That the dear one who has shared her physical location with you is really where she says she is?

I am telling you, you need to be forgetful like I am. If you are not, you need to pretend to forget belongings when desired. Or maybe (hopefully) in a year from now, people will defeat Google Latitude.

Thread of Life ...

2008-11-19T11:27:00.000-08:00

This is a brilliant movie in the public domain. Please watch it in the earnest.

Game 2: 1/2-1/2

2008-10-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

Whew. It was a wonderful game. Both the giants (as Levon Aronian called them) played well. But Vishy definitely surprised his opponent (who am I to say he surprised Kramnik, I can't read his mind ;)) by playing 4 ... f3. It was rather atypical that it was Anand who had less time left on the clock -- but hey, it is the World Chess Championship where they play classical time control!

It was very tense during the game as it progressed:

Move 8:

Move 14:

The draw agreed:

Replay the game at: http://chessbase.com/news/2008/bonn/games/bonn02.htm

Scores after Round 02: Anand -- 1, Kramnik --1.

Game 1: 1/2-1/2

2008-10-14T11:18:00.000-07:00

Game 1 of the match was drawn with the World Champion having plenty of counter-play after being a pawn down. Vishy played Black and resorted to Exchange Slav.

Here is how it ended.

See (http://chessbase.com/news/2008/bonn/games/bonn01.htm) for the complete game.

World Championship Chess Match ...

2008-10-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

Ah folks. Here we are.

Next Tuesday, October 14, 2008 it is. Vishy Anand will be all set to defend his World Championship title against the challenger Vladimir Kramnik. It is expected to be an intense battle for the supremacy rather than a string of predictable draws. Who wins is matter of few days but the chess enthusiasts from around the world are going to enjoy this match being played at the famous Arts and Exhibitions hall at Bonn, Germany.

Here is the official website.

The tension is unbelievable and as a Vishy Anand fan, I feel my chest is bursting. I am sure he is calm and composed just as he said in this interview at chessbase.com -- a must read for any chess enthusiast (or a person who likes any form of art or sport or a thing of beauty).

If you want to see and hear what this man's current thinking is, click on the image/video below (from ibnlive):

Wow! I can't wait.

The 3 Trillion Dollar Iraq War ...

2008-09-29T17:13:00.001-07:00

All right, this is one of the most straightforward accounts of just how dearly the war has cost the Americans.

Wake up!

The New American Dollar Bill ...

2008-09-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

Someone sent me this

imprint of the American Dollar Bill. Looking at the current economic situation and bailouts, it looks painfully funny!

(Disclaimer: I make no claims about this image. I am just using it for the sake of sharing the fun part of it. It is not an attempt to draw more readership to this post.)

Books on Mathematics (Free)

2008-08-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

While browsing the Internet, I found this list to act as a ready reckoner for myself and others who find my blog post (unlikely phenomenon). Thanks to the person who compiled this list.

Giving a real chance to environment friendly life-style ...

2008-07-19T16:57:00.000-07:00

Somehow, I have a feeling that unless I switch to a life-style that minimally stresses the environment, I am not making the best use of my lifetime here. But surprisingly, and somewhat unfortunately, the real information, the real exemplary lives that demonstrate how to go about it are hard to find. This is the situation in the Bay Area, California. Frustration grips me.

I am looking for real people and advice that will set me on this path. I know my blog is not necessarily the best way to reach out (who reads my pointless ramblings, anyway :) ), but I have started trying out various avenues in my Quest.

I am sure one of the necessary (but not sufficient) things to do here is keeping your needs in check. I am prepared to do that. But how can I make a difference? Also, I am up for evolution, not revolution and I am (painfully) aware that I need to be patient as we soon will be 9 Billion people and any progress is going to be slow (and slower).

But I am becoming more and more melancholy every time I (have to) use/buy bottled water after a grueling cricket match, plastic merchandise at a social gathering, diapers and so on.

I am hopeful that humankind will prevail. We have taken millions (literally) of years to get here. We can't be wiped out clean because of environmental imbalance. But the future is murky. The life expectancy has improved a lot and that is likely to pose difficult problems.

Let me live the phrase "Charity begins at home". Can you help?

Google's Mail Search and Intelligence ...

2008-07-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

Google's attempt to do the GMail search and present the reader with relevant ideas from the Web is commendable, but frankly, the problem is rather too complex to solve well.

I clicked on the "Spam" Folder on GMail UI and a prominent hyperlink on the page showed me:

Spam Hashbrown Bake or Spam Casserole !

:-)

OnStartups and Life ...

2008-06-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

I read Dharmesh Shah's thoughtful posts at onstartups.com. I really like how he makes you think and encourages you to start something of your own. It is obvious that he does not necessarily make it sound simple (contrary to popular belief), but he surely makes the case in simple terms.

Maybe it brings the missing element (the courage) out of me, someday!

And why should I think what I do must change the world or how it operates? That's hard, probably and is the forte of the legends. I need to do simple things one at a time, for my own sake, to recognize the importance of failure in life. Ultimately, success is, like someone has said, ability to go from one failure to another, without any loss of enthusiasm.

To conclude, I understand Sydney Harris' quote:

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is the regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable!

Now only if I realized it!

GMail and sent mail ...

2008-06-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

I don't get it. One of the most important requirements from my e-mail client is the facility to preserve e-mails that I send. I may want to delete a conversation (as GMail calls it), but that does not mean I want to get rid of what I wrote as part of that conversation.

Well, in today's GMail UI, it is not evident how I can satisfy this (basic) requirement as a user. To elaborate the point:

I send an e-mail or get an e-mail from someone.
I start the conversation and after 4 rounds of send-receive, I decide to delete the conversation from my Inbox.
Later, I want to know what I wrote as part of my responses. Naturally, I click on Sent Mail folder and to my dismay, I find no trace of the same.

Now, there could be something missing and there could be responses like "Why delete? We have gigabytes of data storage." or "Undelete it from the Trash" etc.

But that's not the point. The point is, a normal expectation from "Sent Mail" is just redefined by GMail and to my surprise, this is not a bug in GMail? I am sorry if I am missing something, but without a doubt, how I can satisfy the above is not at all evident on GMail UI.

Weird!

The thing is ... is that ...

2008-06-11T16:05:00.000-07:00

Let's do a poll. Have have heard of such a strange arrangement of words --

The thing is ... is that ... she does not know.

?

(Note that this is a pattern and it manifests itself in several other contexts and situations).

I get irritated when I listen to such a statement. It happens in a face-to-face conversation. The speaker probably chooses to do something like this mainly to appear fluent. But I have seen this pattern in the statements made by people whose mother tongue is English.

Two new punctuation marks ...

2008-04-02T10:34:00.001-07:00

I have now seen so many pages on the web with the basic :)s and :(s and their good/bad variations that I think at least the English Language should consider having these:

:) - implies mischief, happiness, light-hearted mood etc.
:( - implies being dejected, sorrow etc.

as standard punctuation marks in print.

What say?

:)

- Kedar

Man and Computer, IBM 1965 ...

2008-01-14T12:28:00.000-08:00

This is one of the finest videos I have watched. It's a bit dated, but the principles that emerge out of this are still valid.

"A video (released from the reserves of the Computer History Museum on their YouTube channel) for which everything seems to have been done right"

That's is how I'd like to describe this video. It tells you what the machine is all about in a succinct manner, but more importantly, it tells you what it is not, in an effective manner!

Its running time is little over 22 minutes. But it is well worth your time.

Please do watch and share.

Life ...

2007-12-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream,
Merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream!

(In the text that follows, you might be caught cryptically between "life" and (game of) "Life", but that's life).

Life is one of the most brilliant things I have enjoyed.

Imagine that Life began infinite years ago with an initial state and a generation of cells. Life then progresses through its unfathomable journey with a set of simple rules. Here they are:

A cell is represented by a square in a grid that extends infinitely in both directions on a 2-D plane.
Life begins with an initial generation wherein certain cells are live and others are dead.
A live cell is identified by marking its square, a dead cell is identified by leaving it empty.
Life transitions from a given generation to the next by following simple rules that are based on number of cells in the eight cells neighboring each cell :
1. Death by Overcrowding: If a live cell is neighbored by 4 to 8 live cells, it dies.
2. Death by Loneliness: If a live cell is neighbored by 0 or 1 live cell it dies.
3. Survival: If a live cell is surrounded by 2 or 3 cells, it survives.
4. Birth: If a dead cell (or cell that was never born) is surrounded by 3 cells, it is reborn (or born).
5. You apply the rules and mark a cell as live or dead before marking it as such.

Results of applying these simple rules to a generation that started with 3 live cells (imagine that the grid is infinite) are shown below (B: Birth, D: Death, S: Survival).

And the pattern alternates for many many more generations to come!

Just like in real life, Life generates interesting patterns based on these rules and initial generation and can go on forever. Thanks to John Conway for introducing us to this fascinatingly abstract game.

Byron sent this to me, thanks a ton, Byron!

See here for a nice description and a "Java Applet" demo of Life.

Wow!

Impressive Steve Jobs ...

2007-11-30T08:02:00.000-08:00

I think the only way you can succeed in life is by being a maniac. Steve Paul Jobs is one.

Please spend 15 minutes of your time watching the attached video. It's well worth your time. Don't get carried away, but this is one of the most impressive speeches.

Thanks to Youtube and in my eyes, this is the strength of Youtube and that's why Google bought them for $1.6B. I will write about that later.

Timeless Mumbai ...

2007-11-25T19:50:00.000-08:00

This photograph is one of my all-time-favorites. It captures the "timelessness" of the city of Mumbai perfectly well.

[Taken from Flickr.]

Helping End the World Hunger ...

2007-11-21T18:42:00.000-08:00

I thought FreeRice is doing a commendable job in this. We should contribute and benefit others while getting benefited ourselves. Check it out ...

Do Software Companies Really Care for Users of Their Software?

2007-10-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

I am being very careful about this post. It is definitely not an outburst of a bad day at work or bad experience with a software (e.g. Word Processor) I use .

Whatever you are told by the executives of a (software) company, it should be taken with a grain of salt. All companies have to make money.

But the user of their software has to be at the center of their strategy, i.e. their day-today operations. It is obviously required that companies come up with interesting schemes and support the user in a paid manner, but the (hapless) user has to be at the center of all of that.

It is not easy, however. You need to have empathy and practical intelligence, both. This combination is very rare. Usability of software is its number one quality and anything done to improve that should be done all the time. Usability, interestingly, rarely challenges the stability of the software.

Vishy Anand is the undisputed world champion ...

2007-09-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

This is one of the happiest days of my life.

Vishy Anand became the undisputed World Chess Champion today. He achieved this feat in Mexico City in the world championship tournament with formidable opponents like Kramnik, Gelfand, Leko, Svidler, Aronian, Morozevich and Grischuk.

When time permitted, I watched some of his games live (online). It was such a feast! Especially the game against Morozevich had brilliancy prize written all over it. It's remarkable to experience the tension in watching these games live (some may wonder how).

After departure of Gary Kasparov from professional chess world, we wanted a player who could fill that void. Of course both Kramnik and Topalov are capable, but Vishy edges them with his tenacity and longevity promise. Novelties have been his forte for several years. I won't say I like his blitz style while playing classical time control chess games, but that does make him the maverick he is. That brings him the Oscar Awards he has amassed.

He was always there, but not quite. I remember his 1996 loss against Gary Kasparov. Today, he wiped out all of that and at the age of 38, he achieved this crowning glory. I am happy not only because I am a fellow Indian, but also because he was able to overcome those little (very little?) inaccuracies stopping him from getting there. For past almost two years, he seemed to be working on it -- to convert minimal advantage into a full point and to save a game in a must-save situation. I think he is a different player now and has been able to make those subtle modifications. At that level, this is very difficult. First, the numero uno of the Chess world, and now the undisputed champion of it -- Priceless!

Hats off!

Interesting Advertisement ...

2007-09-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

Commercials, errr... advertising campaign banners are often very informative and educative. The attached (click to enlarge) is one example of such eye-opening banners. I definitely know few friends who will appreciate this! (All rights about the image are reserved by Rajasthan Patrika. I am not claiming any credit here).

Sending Money to India via ICICI Bank ...

2007-08-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

This is a quick recipe that is intended to help me more than anyone else :)

If you want to send money to India, there are few options.

The best is to draw a demand draft from (e.g.) State Bank of India in the name of the beneficiary. Banks need cashier's checks to be deposited to them so that they can draw the demand draft in Indian Rupees. I have used this several times. The advantage is that you get the best exchange rate. The only caveat is you need someone trustworthy (e.g. yourself) to carry the demand draft to India and hand it over to the beneficiary.
ACH transfers, money2India programs work great, but I think exchange rates are a bit dicey. So, I usually avoid them.
The last one is wire transfer. The following procedure is only for transferring from local bank in the USA to ICICI Bank in India.

Get all the details of the beneficiary (name, address, phone number in India, ICICI Bank account number). Keep them handy.
Local bank will ask you to fill in a form. Always do the wire transfer from USA to USA. That is, there are intermediate banks that are affiliated to ICICI Bank. These banks are all over the world. You need to know the exact details of those banks. For example, for the US, here is the information:

Intermediary Bank SWIFT Code: CHAUS33XXX
Intermediary Bank Name: JP Morgan Chase, New York. A more complete list for other countries is here.
Intermediary Bank Routing Number: FED ABA 021000021.
Intermediary Bank Account Number: 400808595. (The idea is that your local bank transfers the money to Chase Manhattan in this account and then it's transferred to your beneficiary's ICICI account in India. It is absolutely important that you transfer the money to this Intermediary. That saves you money as it is a domestic wire transfer for your local bank in the USA.

Provide the details of the ICICI Bank.

Name of the bank: ICICI Bank, with address. All the locations of ICICI Bank are available here -- https://infinity.icicibank.co.in/web/services/jsp/Locateus.jsp -- click on "Branches" and find it yourself.
SWIFT Code: ICICINBBXXX (This is for their Mumbai Branch). I will fill in the details for other branches. Note: Please ask your beneficiaries to go to their ICICI Bank Branch and get the SWIFT code for that Branch or for the main branch in that city.

That's it, you are done.

Problem with displaying devnagari characters in Firefox on Mac.

2007-07-04T17:24:00.001-07:00

This post is to demonstrate the problem with Firefox (Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070515 Firefox/2.0.0.4) on Mac OS X (10.4.10).

I have a simple HTML page with my name using the UTF-8 character encoding. This name is expressed in the Devanagari Script. This is how Firefox displays this on my Mac.

The same HTML page is displayed as expected in Safari on the same Mac.

The actual HTML page is as follows:



<html>
<title> Testing Devanagari on Mac/Firefox </title>


<h2>
My Name: केदार म्हसवडे

</h2>

</html>

FireFox's generic message on sites that could not be contacted ...

2007-06-07T05:37:00.001-07:00

This is how it looks ...

Failed Extension on FireFox 2.0.0.4 ...

2007-06-06T07:25:00.001-07:00

Here is how it looks ...

Remembering David Halberstam ...

2007-05-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

The news of David Halberstam's death is unfortunate. I haven't read this celebrated author of 15 bestsellers, but he must have been a notable journalist and storyteller. It is just unfortunate that his illustrious life had to end this way.

When I was reading about the ordeal that Jean Halberstam (his wife of 27 years) and Kevin Jones (the unfortunate UC-Berkeley student who chauffeured him) my mind just filled with grief and helplessness. Various minds will have various reflections about this (sadly) commonplace incident, but I really feel for Kevin Jones. He must be going through a lot of trauma.

Being an Indian, I know that driving on the US roads is a joy. I just pray that I remind myself that getting to drive on US roadways is a privilege. I just pray that all drivers listen to "Mr. RoadShow's" advice that he gives everyday in the San Jose Mercury News. I just pray that I am attentive during driving and so is everyone else :). This everyday activity, so commonplace, is supposed to be safe. It has become so tricky -- and might have dire consequences. And still, it is so taken for granted. Accidents are part and parcel of everyday life. But one should not feel that enough care was not taken, that's all we can ensure.

David -- while you rest in peace, I just hope that we, as a society are better drivers!

Vishy Anand: The new number one ...

2007-04-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

Viswanathan Anand is lonely at the top!

Yes, he achieved this remarkable feat in the new ELO Ranking list just released by FIDE. Obviously, the top 3 in the list, Vishy Anand and Kramnik/Topalov are more-or-less comparable in their prowess, but Vishy has made a point by beating the duo by 14 points!

He's been the most consistent player in the last decade, dare I say. He promised the world to be more cautious and yet creative while playing big tournaments and the results are quite fabulous. A master getting his reward. Winning a chess tournament (or a game for that matter) is a big deal. He corrected mistakes that he committed in Wijk-Aan-Zee and converted the 0's into 1's in other games to win his favorite Linares Tournament (after 9 years) by a full point.

The next goal for this remarkable player is to break the 2800 limit. I am sure he'll do it by playing fine chess in the months to come.

A great chess master's games are always memorable like the things of beauty that John Keats has said. Vishy's games are a resounding testament to that. His game collections like the one at chessgames.com are so exhilarating that I feel as if I have just heard a Mozart Symphony or a Lata Mangeshkar Melody. Art, isn't it?

I am very happy.

A great quote ...

2007-04-02T07:05:00.000-07:00

While reading a book on funny quotes I found this quite interesting quote:

This sentance has three erors.

Move to the new blogger problematic?

2006-12-24T17:53:00.000-08:00

Or is it Impossible?

Am I missing something? I recently tried the new blogger interface. To my surprise and disappointment however, when I logged in using the Google account, it just thinks that it's another incarnation of me and creates two different blog dashboards for me. I thought this is a lossless upgrade, but apparently it is not. In order to create this entry for example, I had to get back to the "old blogger account".

Is this broken or am I missing something basic?

Can someone help?

Kaler's Lectures on Astronomy ...

2006-12-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

I won't say Astronomy has always been my interest because that would mean I don't do much about what I like. But it has been a branch of science that I have looked at with awe. To a mere mortal like me, it's been something that is intangible.

Professor Jim Kaler is a well-known professor at UIUC.

A friend of mine introduced me to Professor Kaler's lectures on Astronomy.

And ever since that has happened, this seemingly unfathomable subject of Astronomy in general and these lectures in particular, have started having immense impact on my life. It has started reflecting on everything I do. At times, the reflections are so immense that I even think of futility of things I do for a living. The Astronomical scale of the things out there is so grand and mind-boggling that I am often speechless after I hear these lectures. On one side we have subatomic particles and nuclear physics and on the other side we have got these mystic celestial (!) bodies moving for ages and in between we have got the beautiful Life! Oh My, only if my words were capable enough to express excited state of my mind, Alas.

Lot has been said about Astronomy by various capable authors. The distinguishing characteristics of these lectures are effective and gripping delivery, clear thought process that permeates the monologue and most importantly, the drama that Professor Kaler creates throughout. It will be evident from statements like:

"The brightness of Earth on Moon is so bright that it ..." (imagining how the Earth would look like, standing on the Moon)

"From Copernicus to Tyco, to Kepler, to Galileo, to Nootn and finally onto Einstein ..."

"... All this set the stage for Issac Nootn ..."

"Sort of a final act when we bring in Einstein ..."

"Everyone who has an advanced technological device, is going to skim the cream! Galileo had the Hubble Telescope of the time!"

"It struck him almost in greeeeen, he said, 'The orbits are ellipses' ..."

"Knowing how it works, only enhances the beauty ..."

These lectures are a treasure to me. Through the chapters like "Romance of the Moon", "Earth, Sky and the Planets", "Putting in all together" what Kaler has been able to achieve is beyond words. You've got to listen to them ...

(Forgive my being emotional, and pardon my excitement).

Couple Interesting Sites for Engineers ...

2006-07-30T21:12:00.000-07:00

Internet is a phenomenon for all.

Here are a couple of sites that are of general interest for Engineers. I think they'd be useful for every engineer there is.

Engineering Tips -- http://www.eng-tips.com/
Design News -- http://www.designnews.com/

I am pretty sure that these are the communities made of professionals as well as amateurs.

Hope you find them useful.

Misspell it, meaningfully ...

2005-11-19T15:54:00.000-08:00

San Jose Mercury News is conducting an entertaining competition. The rules are as follows:
- Choose an English word.
- Make another word from it by changing just one alphabet (alphabit :) ). In other words, a letter can be added, removed or changed from it, to get the new word.

Send the (now misspelled) words to perspective@mercurynews.com.

I sent the following entries ...

- buscher (noun, pronounced, bu-sh-er) -- (the alphabit 't' in butcher replaced by 's') -- A hawkish head of any powerful state who defies sane opinions and invades other states based on false intelligence information and faulty judgment. Irresponsible acts by such a person usually result in wide spread anger and devastation and claims several innocent lives. A typical usage could be: "The beginning and the end of the twentieth century saw some of the worst buschers of all time. We hope the twenty-first century has something better in store for humanity."

- milemma (noun, pronounced, mii-le-ma) -- (the alphabit 'd' in dilemma replaced by 'm') -- A state of mind (usually a disorder) that makes a person confused between various impressions of living world. When in this state of mind, the person often thinks that the physical things seen (by other normal human beings) are unreal and that there is a parallel universe existing somewhere. Such a person usually has hard time believing that a life is neither a movie nor a dream.

- wittok (noun, pronounced, y-2-k) -- (the alphabit 'l' in wittol replaced by 'k') -- An overly hyped phenomenon that is predicted to happen some time in future in anticipation of which, the world appears to prepare carefully and meticulously. The predictions usually hint at disruptions to normal human life. The topic gets such an attention that even common people in remote parts of the globe discuss it over lunch or dinner (as if some comet were to hit the mother Earth). When the predicted date/time passes, nothing happens. A typical usage could be: "In spite of technological advancements, the scientific community is predicting rather too many wittoks lately."

---------------------------------------
:(
The winners are at: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/editorial/13268025.htm

Our judges were Mercury News staff, two men and a woman. They judged the three submissions shown below to be the winners. ``Hubrids,'' a rare double play on words, and ``nagosecond'' tied for first place. "Kung flu" also was judged a winner.

"Hubrids," n. the excessive pride of Prius owners
-- Russ Atkinson, Los Altos

"Nagosecond," n. the amount of time between the shouted command to do something and the moment when you whould have accomplished the task on your own.
-- Allen Fleishman, San Jose

"Kung flu," n. an Asian variety that really knocks you out.
-- Jo Ann Lawlor, San Jose

translation ...

2005-08-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

This is unicode text. Please view it as such:
On Windows platform: Any browser: (Windows 2000, XP), View->Character Encoding ->Unicode UTF-8.

Translating into संस्कृतम् some of the noble initiative names from upakriti.

Light a lamp - dipa-jyotI - दीप-ज्योती
Knowledge enrichment - dnyAna-vR^iddhI - ज्ञान-वृध्दी
Protect the flame - jyotI-rakshA - ज्योती-रक्षा
Bring a Smile - smita-vardhanaM - स्मित-वर्धन
Festivities - Anandotsava - आनन्दोत्सव
Health - nirAmaya - निरामय
Arts - kalopAsanA - कलोपासना
Sports - krIDArthI - क्रीडार्थी

Kyle Maynard - The great inspiration ...

2005-04-03T19:48:00.000-07:00

I read it in the readers' digest and then at the official Kyle Maynard site. This man is amazing and makes me feel ashamed at times.

Hats off to him.

2005-01-17T23:09:00.000-08:00

zabriski point after sunrise

A travelogue of trip to San Francisco

2005-01-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

Note: This blog is best viewed with firefox browser.

Pioneers:
As you all know, Anil was here in San Jose and we had a good time.
I decided to combine my blogging (mis)adventures with writing something about our trip to SFO.

I love San Francisco for its form, for its cultural programs, for its roads with ups and down, for muni, for that unique cosmopolite nature.

We used the yeoman services offered by CalTrain on the weekends and it was just fabulous. These trains are so nice and relaxing that I have now started hating driving to SFO on 101. The train not fast but it just relaxes the busy commuters. That is so vital.

I used the transit 511 planner to plan the trip After reaching SFO, we took the muni and it immediately landed us in some trouble because we just missed one of the buses to golden gate bridge and quickly we changed the plan to go to the beautiful pier 39 which has got a lot of naval history attached with it. Here is a picture of Anil

at fisherman's wharf en-route pier 39.

We roamed around the pier and visited the little but interesting shops around. Pier 39 is a very enjoyable place. People roaming around, a few solo-shows like riding unicycle, shops selling weird things, eateries and food stalls, a nice view of golden gate bridge and alcatraz, dirty (subjective ;) ) seals are some of its features. Here are a couple photographs:

You can see the ship in background of this photograph, with a different angle here.

Then we decided to go to golden gate bridge and were looking for some help to get there. As we were waiting for line 30, we met a lady who migrated to SFO 35 years ago and immediately became friends with her. She was very talkative and seemed to know the city and muni very well. She was telling us that she had a couple foster children, one in India and one in Guatemala. The city was like heaven for this lady who had a gray head and wore glasses to give her that kinda bossing appearance. The ease with which she was moving around stemmed from the familiarity with the city. She was all praise for it. She gave me the clear directions and still I managed to mess it up all and we got delayed unncessarily. But finally we were able to get on the muni line to golden gate bridge. This is that signature place of interest and inspiration in SFO. The golden gate area is simply gorgeous.

I have not written much about the peoples, the eateries, the streets and cultural culminations of this city. But then, this was just a glimpse!

Do visit SFO sometime!

FireFox Is a Great Browser

2004-12-31T15:49:00.000-08:00

I am simply impressed. They have really thought about so many different ways to extend the browser. The extensions, like for instance this very blog that I am creating using the "Just BlogIt" extension, are incredible.

It still has the "techie" flavor IMO. It needs some fresh thinking to use these features and extensions.